The Bucket List
by misspatchesmom
Summary: Tony finds his bucket list from NCIS days; he and Ziva have some good laughs and share memories as they read the list. October 2066. Part of the "You Complete Me" universe.


The Bucket List

 _Tony finds his bucket list from NCIS days; he and Ziva have some good laughs and share memories as they read the list. October 2066._

"Hey, Zi," Tony called out from his office to his wife in her office next to his. "Look what I found!" He walked to the door of his office with a paper in hand.

Ziva popped her head out of the door of her office, "A paper?" She looked at him questioningly as he unfolded the paper and held it out to her to see. "Your bucket list!"

Tony thought a minute, "Let's see; that was from 2011, I think… fifty five years ago…" He thought back to the day he had typed the list on his computer at NCIS and printed it on the shared printer for the team. Ziva and Tim had snatched it from the printer.

"A life time ago," Ziva commented as she tried to grab the paper from his hand grinning the whole time.

"Oh, no, you don't missy nosey," Tony joked. He hadn't realized that he even had the paper still, figuring that the last time he had laid eyes on the list had been a good fifty years ago when he cleaned out his desk in 2016.

"Master the art of Kung Fu," Tony read from the list. "Well, I did learn Krav Maga from you and ninja skills. We were pretty good at stealth back in the day; remember that Fathers' Day we beat everyone at laser tag?"

Ziva smiled at the memory, "Tali and Jack Sloane got close that day; it was only a year or two later that she and Chaim did defeat us. You know that counts as beating Tim at some video game!"

"So, I guess I can check those off," Tony declared definitively. "Next one, drive a 1965 Aston Martin DB5. Since the stunt car was stolen seventy years ago, and the road car is in a private collection in Ohio, I guess that won't happen. I DID get to sit in the promo car in Dubai; does that count?"

"Did you forget that trip to Vegas for your seventy fourth birthday, Tony? I thought you drove one then?" Ziva reminded him. She had arranged the trip as a surprise for his birthday and he had talked about it for the whole year between birthdays. "Somewhere in the digital pictures there is one of you at the wheel; I am certain."

"Oh, yeah, the summer after we lost Gibbs…" Both remembered their surrogate father fondly. They sat quietly, each lost in his or her thoughts for a few minutes.

"Let me see number three," Ziva broke the quiet. "Discover the meaning of life. Hmm… number four is…"

"I found the meaning of life, Zi," Tony stopped her. She looked at him to continue, frowning slightly. "It's all about those you consider family. Gibbs' unwritten rule: you do what you gotta do for family." He paused and took her hands in his, making eye contact. "Ziva, you are the meaning in my life. You and the kids and the grandkids and the great-grands, Tim, all of them; my family…" He placed a hand on her cheek caressing it tenderly.

"Enough with the sappy, ahava," Ziva grinned as she snatched the paper from his hand. She skimmed over the list. "I see only five that you did not do: date a Bond girl, the motorcycle ball of death, the luge, find Hoffa, and space tourism. Impressive, very impressive!"

"Technically, I didn't write to Ebert. I sent the letter two days before he passed on."

"Ah, but you DID write it; that is all your list said," Ziva smirked at her husband. "I remember when you and Tim went shark fishing." She grinned again.

Tony chuckled, "Yeah, I caught a foot long baby sand shark with my hands. Tim thought I was nuts to put my hands on it. Never did catch one the traditional way, though.

"What's next?" He looked at number eight, the next item. "Oh, yeah, catch phrase. I guess the phrase we taught the kids counts. We are DiNozzos and…"

"DiNozzos stick together like Superglue!" Ziva finished with him and the couple high-fived.

Ziva smiled, "What memories with that!" Tony grinned and nodded; he glanced at number ten on the list and quickly sobered.

"Dad; Senior…"

"You tried, Tony. That is all you could do." Ziva wrapped her arms around him and pulled him to her. "He lost out on knowing his grandchildren by his choice, not yours." She looked at the list again and chuckled. "Oh, the next one is the Hitchcock films marathon! That was one crazy week, but we did it!"

"We did, didn't we? I'm kinda glad we waited until the kids were on their own though." Tony smiled at the memory of just the two of them in the mini-theater in the Tel Aviv farmhouse, watching movie after movie with only bathroom breaks and short sleep breaks.

He took the paper from Ziva, "Wonder of the World; well we checked that one off multiple times. The Pyramids at Giza, the Great Wall of China, the Colosseum in Rome, the Grand Canyon, the Taj Mahal, and the Great Barrier Reef."

Ziva looked at the list, "You did learn to play the bass, sort of. Anthony created a coat of arms when he was in that graphics class in high school. I guess that counts because you gave him some ideas and helped him get it the way you both liked it to look."

"Oh, I have done this one too, Zi," Tony pointed to the item about Gibbs' steak. "And I passed it on to all of our kids, too. Who knew his secret ingredient was something as simple as bay leaf and butter?"

Tony's stomach rumbled making Ziva laugh, "You do know that you carry this food thing to the grave? Eat like a DiNozzo should be in an urban dictionary!"

"Probably already is," Tony laughed with his ninja. "Hey, at least I passed that down the line, too!"

Ziva skipped to items twenty two and twenty three on the list, "Memoir; I'd say the _Soulmates_ video covers those two!" Tony nodded his agreement and plucked the list from Ziva's hand.

"Motivational half-time speech; oh, man, how many of them did I give when I coached Anthony's basketball teams? I've lost count.

"Bogie's grave was an easy one. We got that with the whole family and on our own. The famous grave tour was fun, but I liked it better when you and I went and just found his burial place," Tony reminisced.

He grew quiet and had a serious look on his face as he took Ziva's hand and read the final items, "Let friends get closer. Discuss Paris. Tell her. You know, those were all easier than I thought they would be way back then.

"After I left you on that tarmac, one of the things I put on my 'will' was I will let friends get closer. I started with Tim. He's like a brother to me all because I let him in. After one, the others were easy…" Tony made eye contact with his soulmate. "Jimmy, Abby, Ducky, Breena, Dee, Leon…"

Ziva put her free hand on his face, "Family is the most important thing in the world. Family first!" Tony leaned into her touch, remembering those very same words from so long ago when he thought he had lost Ziva forever.

"Paris? Got that one done long ago after we got stuck in that elevator," he smiled. "I should have told you then…"

"Neither of us was ready at that point," Ziva responded. "Or thought we were…" She trailed off.

"Yeah. But, Zi, you have to agree that we've had this journey exactly the way it was meant to be. I wouldn't have it any other way. And I do tell you every single day how much I love you. Always will!" He drew Ziva to him, fusing his lips on hers. "Ani ohev otcha, Zi."

"Ani ohevet otach, Tony…" Ziva pressed herself against the man who had been her completion, her soulmate, her forever.


End file.
